A motorist in Paris has learned the perils of illegal parking, after his decision to leave his luxury car at a taxi rank resulted in the bomb squad carrying out a controlled explosion.

The man, identified by Le Parisien newspaper only as Olivier, was out for a night on the town in the French capital’s fashionable sixth district last week. Unable or unwilling to find a space in which to park his Porsche Carrera S, valued at €150,000, he left it unoccupied on the side of the road, illegally occupying a space designated for taxis.

After indulging in a night of excess, Olivier then left the nightclub, taking a taxi home due to his being in an unfit state to get behind the wheel, leaving the luxury car at the taxi rank, but having turned on its hazard lights.

The flashing lights caught the attention of Paris police officers, still on high alert because of France’s ongoing state of emergency due to the heightened terrorist threat. Concerned that the car may have been rigged to explode, the bomb squad was alerted to the car as a potential risk, so they decided the threat threshold had been passed to merit carrying out a controlled explosion on the front bonnet.

Olivier arrived at the scene to find his car wrecked, only to be told that he now had to remove it from the rank himself.

“I shouldn’t have parked it there,” he said, but added that he felt that police officers had been hasty in their actions.

“They contacted the leasing agency, then called me, and I explained the situation. I said sorry and said I would head there immediately. But obviously they didn’t take this into account, because the bonnet was already exploded by the time I arrived.”

According to reports, Olivier is now seeking legal action against the bomb squad.